When it was announced that President Muhammadu
Buhari would on Thursday, June 2, visit Ogoniland to
flag-off the clean-up exercise in the region, many
were elated, however, the militant group Niger Delta
Avengers (NDA) did not think it wise.
President Muhammadu Buhari’s cancelled trip to
Ogoni land has become an issue of keen debate.
Nigerians again were sent into a frenzy when news
broke out that the president had cancelled his trip
and in his stead, Vice President Osinbajo would
attend. The cancellation of the president’s trip to
Ogoniland has caused so much uproar on social
media, with some Nigerians calling it cowardice,
while others defended the move.

BREAKING NEWS:

Pandemonium broke out on Thursday at the Federal
Polytechnic, Auchi, as scores of rampaging
students sustained various degrees of injuries
following a violent protest over the alleged refusal
of the management of the institution to allow
students who had not paid their school fees to sit
for examination.
Over 50 vehicles belonging to some staff and
management were said to have been destroyed by
the angry students while some offices had their
louvres smashed in the riot that lasted for over four
hours. Trouble was said to have started when security
personnel at the polytechnic prevented some
students from sitting for the examination in
accordance with the directives of the management.
Consequently, some of the students who were said
to have forced their way into the examination hall
had their examination booklets torn by the security
officials.
They were said to have resisted the security agents
on ground and insisted that they should be allowed
to write the exams like other students, a
development which led the violent protest.
Some of the irate students were said to have
lamented the new policy of no school fees, no
examination by the new Rector of the school.
The Public Relation Officer, Auchi Polytechnic,
Mustapher Oshiobugie, who confirmed the incident,
however said the situation has been brought under
control and blamed students who had not been
properly registered by paying their fees for the

violent protest.

Popular Ghanaian actor Michel Majid has made it
known that he now believes in God.
The actor in a recent Instagram post, the actor
explained how he has been foolish to have believed
that there is no God. Majid went further to explain
what brought about the change in his belief and why
he is now thankful for knowing that there is God. He
posted:
“Lord God i have never spoken to you. But now i
want to say…how do you do? You see God, they told
me you didn’t exist and like a fool i believed all this.
Last night from standing outside, i saw your sky
and i figured right then they had told me a lie. Had i
taken time to see the things you made i’d have
known they weren’t calling a spade a spade. I
wonder God if you’ll take my hand. "S

omehow i feel that u’d understand. Funny i had to
come to this hellish place before i had time to see
your face. Well i guess there isn’t much more to say
but I’m sure glad God i met you today. Like the zero
hour will soon be here but I’m not afraid since i
know you are near . The signal… well…God I’ll have
to go. i like you lots i want you to know. Looks like
this will be a horrible fight who knows, i may come
to your house tonight. Though i wasn’t friendly to
you before i wonder God if U’ll wait at your door.
Look…I’m crying… i’m shedding tears i’ll have to go
now God, goodbye…. Strange…now, since i met you,
I’m not afraid to die . #LEADERSHIP.”
Hmmn..congrats on finding God!

To the former husband, Joseph Aduwo, the
dissolution of the 10-year-old marriage is good
riddance to bad rubbish. “My wife, who is a pastor,
an evangelist, a church interpreter and women
leader, fought with nine persons in a day on our
street, wearing only bra and underpants. “She is a
shameless street fighter,’’ he told the court.
File photo: Female pastor’s excessive fighting leads
to a dissolution of her marriage.
The businessman said his 42-year-old wife, Rachel
who is an evangelist is unworthy of her calling.
The President of the court, Mr Adegboyega Omilola,
who gave the verdict, cited frequent fighting
between the man and his wife.
Omilola said he was convinced that the couple could
no longer live together as the petitioner insisted on
divorce after several unsuccessful interventions
he

ruled: “The court has no choice than to dissolve
the union in spite of the fact that the wife claims she
still loves her husband.
“The court hereby pronounces the marriage
between Joseph Aduwo and Rachael dissolved
today; both parties henceforth cease to be husband
and wife.
“You are free to go your separate ways without
hindrances and molestation.”
The petitioner, Aduwo, 59, had approached the court
seeking the dissolution of the marriage who he
described as a street fighter.
“My wife one day engaged in fights from 8.00 a.m.
to 11.00 p.m. and residents were begging her to
stop but she refused.
“I also pleaded with her but instead she cursed me
and I was ashamed of myself.
“I had to take her pictures with my phone when she
was fighting in the public with only brassier and
sent the pictures to her family,” he also told the
court.
He accused Rachael of maltreating his three
children he had from another woman. “My wife has
been hostile to my children and they had to vacate
my house and rent an apartment elsewhere.
“She fights my friends and relatives anytime they
visit me and this has prevented them from coming
to my house,’’ said the estranged husband, who
pleaded with the court to dissolve the marriage.
Racheal, however, denied all the allegations, saying:
“I used to prepare food in the morning, afternoon
and evening for my husband. “The court should not
grant his request for a divorce as I still love him.’’

Tomatoes plague: Just when the nation’s tomato farmers were
beginning to reap the rewards of the government’s
stopping of the importation of substandard tomato
produce, which was costing Nigeria N80bn annually,
there comes a plague that is threatening to wipe out
tomato farms.
Its devastating effects have prompted Nigeria’s and
Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, to suspend
production at his recently built tomato processing
plant in northern Kano state because of a lack of
tomatoes.
The culprit is a moth with the biological name tuta
absoluta, aka the tomato leafminer, but now
generally referred to as the ‘Tomato Ebola’,
reflecting its destructive power in comparison to the
dreaded Ebola virus.
Tomato Ebola
Tuta absoluta is a grey-brown species of moth that
is about 7mm long, with the ability to wipe out a
farm within days. A female pest can produce up to
260 eggs in 21 days. This reproductive capability,
coupled with a lack of expertise concerning its
control, were the reasons for its spread and the
scale of the devastation.
The tomato is the main host plant, but tuta absoluta
also attacks other crop plants, including potato and
pepper plants. Eight to ten generations can occur in
a single year if the conditions are favourable.
Devastation
The larva attacks the leaves of the tomato plant by
feeding on it voraciously, producing large galleries
in leaves, and consuming green and ripe fruits,
consequently causing up to 100% loss in yield in
some farms.
All the available and usual pesticides have been
applied to no avail, as the larvae have developed
resistance to them, reviving themselves about three
hours after being sprayed with pesticides.
Eighty per cent of Nigeria’s tomato production has
been hit by the plague, which has become
widespread and now affects production in six
states: Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Plateau, Kaduna and
Lagos.
Hundreds of hectares of tomato farms have been
ravaged, resulting in a scarcity, thereby sky-
rocketing the prices in the market. The cost of
tomatoes has increased at least five-fold, or 500%,
with no sign of slowing down.
The current crisis is a huge blow for Nigeria’s
President Muhammadu Buhari who has been urging
the nation to return to agriculture to minimise the
economy’s dependency on petroleum, which is now
causing suffering due to the huge decrease in the
crude oil market price.

Global spread
The moth was first identified as a tomato pest in
1927, when it was prevalent in many South
American countries. It was first identified in Spain in
2006, before its detection in France, Italy, Greece,
Malta, Morocco, Libya and Algeria.
It continued its voracious appetite by infecting the
Middle Eastern states of Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran
and Saudi Arabia.
It further advanced to Africa, from Egypt to Sudan,
Ethiopia, and Senegal, before being reported here in
Nigeria.
A larvae feeding off a tomato

Control
Nigeria needs to reach out to other countries
previously affected in order to curb the destructive
spread of this resistant moth. Newer compounds
were used to control European outbreaks, so we
need to seek the assistance and expertise of our
European, South American and African partners.
Tomatoes are a staple in many of our dishes, hence
the public outcry over the scarcity and the soaring
cost. All hands must be on deck to curb the pest’s
spread.
However, Dr Ogbonnaya Onu, the minister of
science and technology, said the federal
government has developed a home-grown solution
to the tomato pest through the National Chemical
Institute for Chemical Technology, in Zaria, Kaduna
state, an agency under the ministry’s control.
He said: “Fortunately, an agency of the ministry has
developed a pesticide agent that is very effective
against the new tomato pest called tuta absoluta.”
A tomato infected with the tomato Ebola
He expressed further confidence in the pesticide,
adding: “The pest ravaging tomato farms is of great
concern to the nation, and this had led to an agency
of the ministry to develop a pesticide which is very
effective against the new tomato pest.”
Government reactions
The current crisis prompted the governor of Kaduna
state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, to declare a “tomato
state of emergency.”
Kaduna state’s commissioner of agriculture,
Maigari Daniel Manzo, stated at a recent news
conference that 80 per cent of tomato farms have
been ravaged by the pest.
He further said that over 200 tomato farmers in
three out of 12 tomato-producing local government
areas of the state were affected by the plague,
costing farmers about N1 billion worth of tomatoes
in the last month.
Maigari said: “ You spray it; after about three hours
it comes back to life.”
Nigeria’s federal agriculture minister, Audu Ogbeh,
warned that the pest, which can also attack pepper
and potato plants, poses a threat to national food
security.
“So we are confronting something quite serious. But
the good thing is that we are tackling it right now as
experts will commence work immediately. We are
bringing the commissioners and governors of states
to jointly attack the pest, which, if not dealt with, will
create serious problems for food security in our
country,” he said.

Students writing UTME/JAMB exam

The post Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations
(UTME) for candidates seeking admission into
higher institution has been scrapped by the federal
government.
The federal government explained that all tertiary
institutions were at liberty to conduct screening for
candidates seeking admission into any school.
According to The Nation, Mallam Adamu Adamu, the
minister of education, disclosed this on Thursday,
June 2, in Abuja after declaring open the 2016
Combined Policy Meeting on Admissions to
Universities, Polytechnics and other higher
institutions in Nigeria.
Adamu, expressed confidence in the examination
conducted by the Joint Admissions and
Matriculation Board (JAMB), adding that there was
no need for other examination to be conducted by
universities after JAMB.
He said: “As far as I am concerned the nation has
confidence in what JAMB is doing. The universities
should not be holding another examination and if the
universities have any complain against JAMB let
them bring it and then we address it.
“If JAMB is qualified enough to conduct tests and
they have conducted test then there will be no need
to conduct another test for students to gain
admission.”
The minister of education has also asked JAMB to
stop extra charges on several categories of
changes on admissions such as the change of
course, change of school and others.
Meanwhile, JAMB has pegged the cut off mark for
admission for 2016 at 180.
The 180 cut off mark, applies to all universities and
higher institutions in the country, including
polytechnics, colleges of education, and others.
Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, JAMB’s Registrar and Chief
Executive Officer, after a long debate with delegates
from various institutions, said that no institution
would go below the 180 cut-off set by the board.

Ojerinde said the reason for this is that the
Computer Based mode of UTME had helped to
completely eradicate examination malpractice.
Post-JAMB tests for applicants was introduced my
many universities and polytechnic before they are
offered admission, irrespective of whether they
passed the JAMB examination, which has attracted
its fair share of criticism as it was described as a
means of extorting money from applicants.